Soba Herring
by 0xRosethornx0
Summary: For those of you who had read a Hinata-gives-Neji-a-delicious-bento stories, this is one with a twist. Hinted NejiHina, somewhat hinted NejTenten: "On the outside, Neji looked indifferent. On the inside, he died and went to hell."
1. Chapter 1

Summary: It's a twist on those Hinata-gives-Neji-a-delicious-bento stories you all know and love. Hinted NejiHina, Slight NejiTenten. A two-in-one story!

**Devoted to Winterkaguya, my first reviewer and a NejiHina fan.**

**Disclaimer in my profile**

**Please review so that I may improve my writing skills.  
**

**[Set before the Akatsuki attack.]

* * *

**

"Neji-niisan, wait!"

The Hyuuga Prodigy turned around to see his cousin Hinata rushing out of the Compound. Lee, Tenten, and Gai waited patiently by the Clan gate for their mission to Amegakure.

"Ano, niisan, you forgot your bento."

"Ahh. Thank you, Hinata-sama."

Neji could smell the delicious contents. She had made his favorite; Sobe noodles topped with a baked and herbed herring, with a side of rice and stir-fry vegetables, and a sesame dumpling. Hinata's cooking brightened even the gloomiest of days, such as today, with the dark hanging clouds that threatened to shed rainfall. Neji would have thanked her more properly, by kneeling and kissing her hand, if not for the watchful eyes of his teammates and sensei behind him.

"Good luck on your mission, niisan. I hope you do not get caught in the rain."

"Thank you, Hinata-sama. Good luck on your mission as well. You'll be going to help a village tomorrow, ne?"

"Hai."

"Good. When I get back, tell me if you came across any trouble."

"I will. Ja ne!"

"Ja ne, Hinata-sama."

* * *

It was almost lunchtime when it started to rain. Despite the intensely ominous sky above, the rain was merely a light shower, and Team Gai made due with a thin barrier of chakra to shield themselves until they got to the closest shelter. They decided to stop at a small clearing with a roofed post meant for shinobi on very hot or rainy days.

"Alright my youthful students! Let us take a break from our perilous journey to feast and replenish our youthful spirits!"

"Hai Gai-sensei! I shall eat to my fill before doing a hundred push ups!"

"Oh, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!!!!"

"Gai-sensei!!!!"

*cue sunset, crashing waves and seagulls from out of nowhere*

Although he did not show it, Neji was quite eager to sit down and feast on the mouthwatering homemade lunch Hinata-sama had packed for him. Contrasting mission timelines and practice schedules had made it months since the last meal Hinata-sama had made for him, at home or anywhere else. There was nothing wrong with the way the chefs made the food; it was just that Hinata-sama's cooking was always made with much love and care. Nothing in the world could compare to a meal from his heiress.

Neji stared at his bento with great anticipation, hidden by a veil of impassiveness. However, his teammate Tenten, who had sat beside him, openly expressed her opinion of the packed lunch in front of her with a grimace.

_Eck! Eel and pickled plums!_

As much as Tenten loves her almost-blind grandmother, she could not stand her repulsive cooking. Eel was bad enough, but burnt eel was even worse! The rice and the spring roll were fine, but not filling enough, and the plums were just plain disgusting. What she would do for some chicken or beef right about now.

Then she noticed Neji's lunch.

_Well, fish would do for now._

All Neji was doing was staring at his lunch. She couldn't tell what he thought of it, since his face contained only the emotionless restraint most Hyuugas showed in public. But hell, she'd quit being a Kunoichi and become a mere housewife before she'd let perfectly good food go to waste.

"Hey, Neji! Since you're not going to eat, let me try some of that!"

And then she quickly helped herself to the sesame dumpling, her personal favorite.

"Mmm! That's amazing! Hinata-chan made this for you didn't she? She's such a good cook."

"Yosh! I shall try some as well! For nothing besides youth is greater than food made passionately by a young flower!"

"The springtime of youth rest upon the skillful hands of the flower that is the cousin of my prodigy student!"

And before Neji knew it, his teammates and sensei had dug in to his scrumptious, long-missed, tempting bento until nothing but the rice and a few carrots and tiny corn was left.

"Huh? Uh, oh. Sorry Neji. Looks like we got carried away. But hey, you can have my bento. My grandmother made some nice eel and spinach!"

"And you shall have my Curry of Life oh youthful rival of mine!"

"I shall offer you my sushi made by the power of my youth, student of mine!"

On the outside, Neji looked indifferent. On the inside, he died and went to hell.

* * *

Her team finished their mission three days earlier than was expected, so she invited her teammates and Kurenai-sensei to a homemade dinner as a celebration. After they agreed to meet at the Hyuuga Compound and parted ways, Kiba to the Kohona Veterinarian Hospital where his sister was working, Akamaru to where Kakashi's dog-nins usually hanged out, Shino to his clan to briefly inform his father of his return, and Kurenai to pick up little Sarutobi from the babysitter's; Hinata went quickly to the market to get a few groceries.

When she returned home she gave the current cook the rest of the evening off, then she laid out the ingredients and heated up the pots and pans she would need to make dinner. With admirable skill and graceful hands she steamed Gyoza dumplings, boiled Miso soup and green tea, fried teriyaki chicken and yakisoba, rolled the cooked sushi and baked the green tea cakes. She took out the dried teriyaki jerky meant for Akamaru, and the chakra-filled rice patty for the bugs.

She hummed to a melody her mother used to sing to her. When the meal was almost ready she began to set the table with plates, chopsticks, napkins, bowls of soy sauce and ceramic cups for the tea. She made sure to add three extra plates in case her father or sister came home early. She expected Neji-niisan to return home from his mission today. By the time everything was ready, Shino was already there and helping to serve the food into each of the plates, except for the last three. Kiba and Akamaru came running in together, and Hinata had to remind them not to make a mess of her house. As they waited for Kurenai-sensei and Sarutobi to show up, Hinata rushed to one of her cousin's house to fetch some baby food. When she returned the last two of the group had already showed up.

* * *

They ate and discussed various topics for the next half hour, taking their time to enjoy the meal Hinata had made. Hinata laughed as Kiba recalled some of the funnier moments of their recent mission. Kurenai was trying to feed Sarutobi some mashed peas, but most of the offending baby food ended up on the floor and table. Akamaru happily chewed on the teriyaki jerky on the floor beside Kiba. Shino sat and ate quietly most of the time, giving his opinions or making statements once in a while. He concealed the chakra rice patty within his jacket so that his kikaichu could eat it without scaring Sarutobi, _like they did last time_. They voiced their thanks to Hinata and Shino sent the message to her.

"…..hahaha! That Genin brat was such a joke! Did he honestly think he could take me on? And he kept tripping on his shoes. What kind of ninja wears civilian shoes anyway? I almost thought he was gonna take out a plastic sword or something like that. I only agreed to the match cause he looked so pitiful."

Hinata giggled and agreed, even though she believed the comment was a little mean.

"Ano, I'm glad we got to help those villagers and didn't get into too many bad fights."

"Yeah! Those rogue ninja that ambushed us were pretty tough. But we were tougher! Right Akamaru?"

"Woof!"

"It was pretty cool fighting a wolf-nin shinobi, I mean she was one tough chick, and her beast came at me like a avalanche! But yeah, we still won."

"If I recall, Kiba, she beat you up pretty badly but ditched her companions and the fight because she wasn't looking for trouble in the first place."

"Aww, shut up, bug-face! At least my opponent put up a good challenge. That bastard you handled surrendered pretty quickly when he saw his buddies defeated."

"Hinata deserves the most credit, as she took out three of them with her Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists."

"Shino is right, Hina-chan! That was awesome!"

"Ano, I still haven't perfected the technique, but I'm glad it worked."

"Well, I'm proud of all of you. You were outnumbered by Jounin-level ninjas four-to-seven and came out in victory."

"Thank you, Kurenai-sensei."

"Whoo hoo! We rocked out loud!"

"Arf!"

"………"

"Nanma! Goowa."

(giggle) "Looks like Sarutobi is happy for us too."

"Aww, who's a cutie pie, huh? You are. Yes you are!"

"Cease to make such childish babble else you frighten the young boy, mutt."

"Can it, or need I remind you exactly whose bugs had freaked him out last…"

_SLAM!_

The table suddenly became silent and all heads turned to the doorway where a very grouchy prodigy just made his presence known.

"Neji-niisan, you're home! Would you like me to get you something to eat?"

The Hyuuga genius headed straight for the one of the empty chairs and abruptly sat down. His hair was messed up, he had bags under his pupiless pale eyes, and his clothes were in disarray. He looked ready to drop dead or at least sleep for a couple of days straight.

"Bad mission, niisan?"

"_**Terrible**_."

"D-did you enjoy your bento?"

"Teammates ate it."

"Oh? That's too bad. I have a little of it leftover in the fridge. Would you like for me to heat it up?

Neji nodded and instantly looked a lot better. He would actually get to enjoy his favorite meal after all, no thanks to Tenten, Lee, and Gai-sensei, who grated his nerves more than usual throughout the entire mission.

"Oh no!"

"Hinata-sama?"

"Gomen, niisan, it looks like otousan or Hanabi-chan already took it with them for lunch."

Neji groaned and hit his head on the table.

"Give me whatever."

"Hai!"

Well, it wasn't Soba Herring, but it was still homemade and delicious, and conversation around the table gradually returned to normal, and Neji listened on as Shino told him about how his cousin handled three Jounin enemies singlehandedly.

* * *

Hanabi came skipping into the compound late at night. Afterschool, she and her friends practiced really hard on their aim for the test their sensei was going to give the class. She just knew she was going to pass. After all, she ranked at the top among her peers.

She saw her cousin Neji awaiting at the door. She knew why and decided to mock him.

"Yes, I did take the leftover soba, and yes, I did enjoy it very much. Whatcha gunna do about it?"

Neji simply turned away and went to bed.

The next day, Hanabi was late for the Academy because her alarm clock didn't go off, her toothbrush went missing, and most of her clothes were dyed the dreaded color pink.

"I'll get back at ya for this! Ya hear me bastard!!!?"

"Hanabi! Proper grammar and language!"

"Gomen tousan."

Neji smirked.

* * *

**This story is dedicated to Winterkaguya. She was the very first one to review one of my stories _Like A Married Couple_. I wasn't really interested in making another nejihina-centered fic so soon. I wanted to write ficlets about my Hyuuga OCs and about Hinata in general. But she is a Nejihina fan, and so I write this story for her. Thank you for being my first reviewer!**

Please review! Give me the gift of constructive criticism so that I may improve. I want to have alot of experience and successful stories before I write the story that i really wanted to write in the first place.

The dinner Hinata made for her teammates was derived from an article I saw. If you're interested for some reason, just google "japanese dinner" and it would be the very first in the listing, with that red sphere icon.

Any other questions you have may be messaged to me.

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	2. Epilogue

**This short second chapter exists because Neji deserves some revenge, mkay?**

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"Hikari-san."

Neji's fifth cousin looked up from her scroll.

"Hai, Neji-nii?"

"I want you to make me a bento."

Hikari dropped her scroll, mouth agape.

_EH!?!_

Hikari was known as one of the worst of all the Hyuugas who cooked. Not that she made bad food; she did a lot of unsavory "experiments" in the kitchen.

Last she heard, her prodigy cousin spat out her celery-raspberry ginger cakes and called it the most repulsive **thing** he had ever put in his mouth.

_What's with the sudden change of heart?_

"........"

"........"

"Well?"

"Huh? Oh, um.... sure! I mean, I'd love to! I'll get started right away!"

She turned around towards the kitchen, abandoning her scroll. She had reached the doorway when he called out:

"And Hikari-san?"

She turned around to look at her usually stoic cousin.

He had a very frightening unemotional stare.

"I want you to go all out, be as creative as possible. Surprise me, won't you?"

Hikari blinked, then beamed.

"H-hai! Of course! You won't be disappointed, niisan! It'll be my greatest culinary experience yet!"

Then she dashed off, no longer wondering about the oddity of his request.

Just as she was out of sight, Neji's creepy stoic face turned into a tiny wicked smirk.

* * *

Another mission, another lunch. This time Team Gai took a break by a river on some natural smooth boulders.

"Hey! Another one of Hinata-chan's bentos, I see."

"Yosh! I think it would be quite rude to not let us savor this remarkable masterpiece of the blue-haired flower!"

"I shall trade with you my youthfully prepared sushi once more, prodigy student of mine!"

With a straight face, Neji held out his bento.

"Help yourself."

"Alright!"

"Yosh!"

"Youthful glorious food!"

The green suit duo and bun-haired kunoichi dove their chopsticks into the innocent-looking horror that awaited them.

* * *

Its moments like this when I truly understand the addiction that is fandom. ^W^


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